DMK-TMC will sweep all 40 seats: Karunanidhi

The Coimbatore blasts had pained him, he said adding, “Peace prevails in Coimbatore now. The blasts have not affected the elections in any way. These blasts are a lesson about what will happen in the future if we give room to forces of communalism. That is why we have always insisted that communalism should be rooted out”.

An entourage from the Chief Minister’s house, including Union Industries Minister Murasoli Maran, Karunanidhi’s wife, Dayalu Ammal, and daughter, Selvi, walked up the Gopalapuram II street to the booth, to cast their votes.

Earlier, Chennai mayor M K Stalin created a similar stir by walking upto the booth,with his wife, Durga, and other family members, at around 8.20 a.m., to cast their votes. Karunanidhi’s driver, Mani, was among the first to vote. His former physician, Dr Krishnan (Karunanidhi’s family physician for 43 years), all of 82 years, arrived with gusto to vote.

The women members of the family, Durga and Tamilarasu’s wife, Mohana, stood in the queue of 12 women awaiting their turn.

The voting booth was a Std I class room of the school with a black board stating, `Knowledge is power’. Polling in this booth was delayed by 20 minutes as the officials could not break open the indelible ink bottle!